Thursday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court began hearing arguments in a monumental election case.
The case before the court stems from Colorado, where a group of voters argue that Trump is not eligible to run for President, citing a Civil War-era provision that bars Americans from holding public office if they have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution but then engage in an insurrection.
In December, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Trump is ineligible to be on the ballot, and the ruling was quickly appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Thursday, the justices seemed skeptical of keeping Trump off the ballot, but they’re likely still weeks from a ruling.
Weighing in on the unprecedented case, UK political science professor Dr. Stephen Voss said, “I find it rather frightening that individual states would be controlling who gets to run for president.”
For Voss, the concern stems from the ripple effect should SCOTUS rule in Colorado’s favor.
“The danger is that we would see states with different politics knocking out opposing candidates from their ballot entirely,” explained Voss.
Giving an example, Voss said, “It raises the possibility that other states could decide, let’s say, Joe Biden broke some other rule, maybe ‘Not defending the border represented treason’ as they define it, and so they're going to kick him off their ballot.”
Similar scenarios playing out in other states, particularly battleground states, could swing an election.
“You have to worry, maybe one party takes over a place like Michigan or Pennsylvania, a state that's in play, and starts stacking the deck by knocking either the Democrat or Republican off the ballot in any one presidential election,” said Voss.
Still, Voss said he doesn’t anticipate the Supreme Court to rule against Trump.
“The court is so conservative that it would be surprising for them to stretch and deliver a defeat against Donald Trump, even a less conservative court, I think, would have serious qualms about letting states on a one-by-one basis start kicking presidential candidates off their ballot.”
The Supreme Court will likely fast-track their decision, with a ruling expected within weeks.
Voss emphasized the weight of the decision they must make.
“The supreme Court has to decide whether allowing individual states to choose whether someone appears on their ballot based on U.S. constitution provisions represents the sort of chaos that can pull the nation apart, or indeed is consistent with the constitutional principle that we don't get ‘one size fits all’ election rules," said Voss.
